The Miseries of Mister Sparrows
Publisher: Matthew A. J. Timmins
Published: 2016
Summary: Robin Sparrows is a humble clerk at Winston Winston & Crumpet, the wickedest law firm in all of Victoria's empire. Charged with delivering a mysterious box to the arch-fiend Kermit J. Tarnish, his life of quiet misery is transformed into a quagmire of murder, mud, and madness.
Unwilling, unaided, and unprepared, Robin must wander the fog-drenched streets of the capital hunting the last man he wants to find while confronting brutish valets, quarrelsome cross-dressers, dithering policemen, forlorn soldiers, and sneering phantoms. Until at last, he uncovers the scandalous truth behind a shameful war.
My Thoughts: Let me start by saying that I LOVE Dickens, and Timmins called his novel "Dickensian" So I was a little apprehensive. I wasn't sure if Timmins was claiming to be the next Dickens, or if he was simply replicating the style, and if so how long was this book gonna be? (I was having flashbacks to the length of David Copperfield) Don't get me wrong, I love long books and especially Dickens' long books, but I wasn't sure I wanted to read a Dickensesque novel by someone other than Dickens. To my delight and relief I found the book both amusing and well written.
Timmins' writing style is both flowery and hilarious. The story flows well and each event becomes more ridiculous than the last. Robin Sparrows is a law clerk for the most wicked law firm in all of Albion. Does he not know his employers are wicked? you may ask, oh he knows how evil they are, but they pay him, so he is willing to do anything they require of him, including taking a box with undisclosed items to the man who betrayed the kingdom and started a full out war. The following adventures that are rather forced upon poor Robin Sparrows would make any lesser man turn back, or maybe because Sparrows is a lesser man with nothing to lose, he sees no choice but to go forward, even if that means sliding down a sewage pipe, being mistaken for a monster, and perching on a windowsill while being attacked by a pigeon. But, you may say, other book characters could do that! Yes, they could, but those characters are often thin and athletic. Robin is round and most unathletic. Often Robin reminded me of Bilbo at the beginning of The Hobbit, when he doesn't know quite what he has gotten himself into, but decides to continue forwards.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and give a round of applause to Timmins for having the gumption to use an atypical main character.
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